Resaca supports range expansion of invasive apple snails (Pomacea maculata Perry, 1810; Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae) to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Abstract

Abstract.Resacas, or oxbow lakes, form from old river channels. In the Rio Grande, resacas provide habitat for diverse wildlife, including native and non-native species. Biologists unexpectedly found pink egg masses on emergent vegetation (November 2015) and later adult apple snails (May 2016) within a resaca at a former fish hatchery in Brownsville, Texas. This report extends the non-native range of Pomacea maculata Perry, 1810 by 429 km southeast in Texas. Our findings imply that abandoned waterbodies, such as fish hatcheries, can act as unrecognized conduits for non-native invasive species.

Limpkin, Aramus guarauna (L., 1766) (Gruiformes, Aramidae), extralimital breeding in Louisiana is associated with availability of the invasive Giant Apple Snail, Pomacea maculata Perry, 1810 (Caenogastropoda, Ampullariidae)

“…Recent observations of extralimital breeding by Florida Snail Kites at GAS-occupied wetlands in northern Florida suggest that northward range expansion facilitated by GAS is a possibility (C. Poli, personal communication). Note also that Texas has 4 extralimital records of Snail Kite (Texas Bird Records Committee 2019), presumably birds originating in Mexico or Central America; vagrants of that population also have the potential to exploit a previously unavailable resource, as GAS continues to spread in Texas (Perez et al 2017, US Geological Survey 2018).…”